


Sanguine Masquerade

by YellowMagicalGirl



Series: Sanguine Sanctuary [1]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Ballroom Dancing, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Don’t copy to another site, F/F, Human/Vampire Relationship, Implied/Referenced Blood Drinking, Masquerade Ball, Noble Lady/Lady's Maid Relationship, Strickler Morgana and Claire's parents are mentioned, Vampire Transformation, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 13:23:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20115793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl
Summary: Claire gives a dress as a parting gift to her lady's maid. Mary goes where she shouldn't have.





	Sanguine Masquerade

“Thank you, Mary,” Claire said as her lady’s maid pinned her hair flat to her head. Mary had been working for the Nuñez family since she was nine, though “working” was really another term for “you’ve been hired to both help and play with our daughter who’s the same age as you.” A task she had come to know well was managing Claire’s unruly curls. When not pinned down and brushed with a hot comb every once in a while, they would make the young Lady Nuñez look like a gorgon from Greek Mythology.

“I do wish you could come with me to... to court,” Claire said, stuttering slightly. Oh, her mother would not like that, not at all. Claire had been raised to be a perfect, prim, and proper young lady. She had confided to Mary that keeping up the masquerade was stressful for her, and that she feared that it would only get worse as time went on. Mary could sympathize, but she got the feeling that the only reason why she could tell when the young Lady Nuñez was frightened in _public_ was because they had known each other for so long.

“It’d be lovely if we could have gone to court together,” Mary sighed. “I bet the lady’s maid assigned to you won’t be as good as me.” _She won’t get you like I do._

Claire’s smile was sad, but she looked like she knew far more than she was willing to say. “I know. It’s too bad that you won’t even be able to attend tonight’s ball.”

She stood up, and walked to her wardrobe. She pulled a dress out. “I want you to have this, as thanks.”

“Are you sure?” Mary asked. It was red, with a striped pattern. It was also a simpler dress, one that could technically be put on by ones self. “It’s beautiful, I can’t take this.”

“You’ve been my friend for nine years, I insist on giving you a parting gift.”

“Thank you, then.” Mary knew the type of good use she would put this dress to.

As a farewell to their daughter before seing her off to serve in the court, Lord and Lady Nuñez were throwing a masquerade ball.

Due to the time she had spent as Claire’s lady’s maid, Mary had almost every needed piece for an outfit befitting such an event. The last piece, the mask was easy enough to procure. Mardi Gras was coming up.

Mary knew the easy ways in to the Nuñez estate, the ways that no one would notice.

By the time she made her way to the grand hall, there was no shortage of masked people. Mary could barely see Claire, which meant she couldn’t see the dress that her friend and former employer was wearing. It was a good thing that she was not yet wearing a mask, or else Mary would not have been able to recognize her.

Claire raised a goblet of red wine and drank from it.

She immediately doubled over coughing. There was only a hint of concern from Lord and Lady Nuñez’s faces, and none from the crowd. Mary gripped her skirt; would she have to be the one to save Claire? There were so many people, though. Getting to her would be difficult.

Before Mary could begin making her way through the crowd, Claire straightened up and grinned. Something about her smile made those closest to her start clapping, and Mary started clapping as well to blend in. She didn’t understand most of the nobility, but she would pretend to for just one night.

After the clapping had ended, Lady Nuñez had made a speech of how proud she was of her daughter (a speech that could have been said in private to Claire when she was much younger, in Mary’s opinion), and how honored she and her family were that Claire would go to serve their queen now that Claire had come of age.

In all honesty, Mary had zoned out a little when listening to her former employer speak. Only a little, and only until the part of the ball she had been hoping for came: the dance. Why go to a masquerade ball for anything else?

A young women approached Mary. “May I have this dance?” she asked. Her hair was pinned close to her head, and despite her mask Mary could see a white streak in her bangs. Perhaps she wasn’t so young, but she was ravishing in her ballgown. It was black with amethysts and golden thread embroidered into the hem. And her _eyes,_ they were a warm, almost familiar shade of brown.

“Y-yes,” Mary stuttered, taking the woman’s hand and letting herself be lead to the dance floor. The woman twirled her, and Mary _loved_ the way her skirt flowed around her. Claire had chosen well.

Mary looked behind herself into the mirror as she twirled again. According to the mirror, she was the only person. But that couldn’t be true, she could feel the other woman’s grip on her hand. She could hear the low murmur of conversation.

What was going on?

The woman dancing with her pulled her close. “We should go,” she whispered, and there was something urgent and familiar in her voice.

The woman pulled Mary into a darkened corridor. She knew the Nuñez Manor as well as Mary did, better, perhaps.

“Mary, what are you_ doing_ here?” she asked, pulling off her mask. Able to properly see her face, Mary knew the young woman must have been Claire. She couldn’t be Claire, though. Claire’s hair was an even dark brown, it couldn’t turn white in a manner of hours.

More importantly, Claire had a reflection. Mary knew this because she had helped her get dressed every day for years in front of a mirror.

“What’s going on?”

“I didn’t give you that dress so you could sneak in; you need to get out here! This place is _dangerous_ for people like - _ow!” _Claire’s canines caught on her lips and blood came close to splattering on their dresses.

“People like me, as opposed to what _you_ are?” Mary balled her hands into fists to keep them from trembling. “What did you do to Claire?”

“I’m still me,” Claire said, though she did so with the slightest of lisps. “I... I’ve _always_ been a vampire, Mary. Both of my parents are vampires, it’s impossible for me not to be. I haven’t drank human blood until tonight, though, so I didn’t have to deal with any of the side effects. I was too young.”

“Your parents, though, they have reflections!”

“It’s a glamour.” Claire ran one of her hands through her hair. “They don’t really look like what you’ve always seen them as, though I guess they’ll look more human than I will when the transformation’s complete. That’s probably what they meant by, when Lord Strickler figured out that I’d be powerful enough to serve our queen.”

“Right, the court...” Mary mused before the realization struck her. “Wait, Her Majesty Queen Victoria’s a vampire too?”

“No, no, not _her._ The Eldritch Queen is the queen of all vampires; I think she’s the eldest of all of us and I _really_ shouldn’t be telling you this. Please, you need to go,” Claire pleaded. There was sincerity in her eyes, even as violet spread throughout them like blood through the water. “And please don’t tell anyone. For your safety, and for mine.”

“Be careful,” Mary said, pressing a kiss to her dance partner’s cheek before running off into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> BTW, I only did minimal research on Victorian English lady's maids and Mardi Gras, so sorry if I got some stuff wrong.


End file.
